Folk Art Mickey and Minnie Mouse Hooked Rugs

Circa 1930s-1940s: Measuring 24"H x 36"W each, this delightful pair of masterfully done Mickey and Minnie Mouse hooked rugs features a smiling Mickey Mouse roller skating swiftly toward his love Minnie Mouse, who sits in the grass and is picking flowers and playing the "he loves me, he loves me not" game. The anonymous maker ties the two scenes together with the flowers on Mickey's rug and creates a two panel love story between Walt Disney's most iconic comic couple. In her depiction of Mickey, the artist creates the effect of movement by having designs in the skies that approximate the ever moving clouds, by alternating single lines of closely related color in the "air," and even by stippling the color of the ground that mixes the green of the grass with the earthy tones of the the skating surface. In contrast, Minnie's rug is much quieter with single color solid grass and air and only movement in the everchanging sky. Instead, the artist shows the passage of time by depicting seven thin brown stems cast into the lawn as a gleeful Minnie Mouse happily begins with plucked flower number eight. Adding to their complexity, the professionally mounted rugs also include rounded corners and a seven color border made up of all the colors used in their creation. This brilliant portrayal of Mickey and Minnie points to the genius of its maker and the lasting mark the hooked rug has made on the broad landscape of American folk art.